Home Tweakers' Asylum

Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ.

Size of the core is not the issue

Regarding Transformer Volume Controls, the winding technique and quality of the core material are much more important than size.
I prefer nickel and amorphous(nanocrystal)cores, they sound much cleaner and more dynamic than ANY resistor based attenuator.

As far as I know all major suppliers of TVC transformers use small, extremely high quality cores (nickel, mu-metal or amorphous).
I have compared extensively four top-quality brands of 23-24 step TVCs. As far as I recall, the average core length is 1 inch.

In general, autoformers tend to have deeper, punchier bass than transformer units. Transformer-based units tend to have a clear bass cut-off frequency, which can be heard as light bass or slight distortion, depending on your speaker's frequency response (mine reproduce 20 Hz in-room).
Most of the TVC units reproduce clean, distortion-free treble up to 50 Khz and beyond.
I am sorry I can not post my transformer listening preferences because of the AA rules, I have become a small/custom preamp manufacturer (as of last month).
What I can say (I hope without breaking the rules) is that IMO TVCs are far superior to active or resistive preamps, if your goal is higher musical pleasure.
I hope this helps
Carlos


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